Govt of Canada Announces Jury for Smart Cities Challenge

On April 26th, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, announced the names of the jury members who will advise on the selection of finalists and winners of the Smart Cities Challenge. The Smart Cities Challenge encourages communities of all sizes across the country to develop and implement smart cities initiatives.

The jurors, selected through a transparent and merit-based process, are diverse professionals who are accomplished and publically recognized in fields related to smart cities, including urban planning, architecture, and policy innovation.

The jury members, are:

Brent Bellamy: Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Leanne Bellegarde: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Matthew Claudel: Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Andrea Feunekes: Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Carol Anne Hilton: Victoria, British Columbia.

Lisa Holmes: Morinville, Alberta.

Maxime Johnson: Montreal, Quebec.

Kaviq Kaluraq: Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Kourosh Rad: Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Stéphane Roche: Quebec City, Quebec.

Gabe Sawhney: Toronto, Ontario.

Maayan Ziv: Toronto, Ontario

The Jury will be led by Chairperson Mark Romoff, from Toronto, Ontario. The biographies of the jury members can be found on the Infrastructure Canada website.

Over the next few weeks, the Smart Cities Challenge jury will review applications that have been submitted to the competition from communities across Canada. They will assess the applications and recommend twenty finalists to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.

These finalists will be announced in the coming weeks. The jury will also help choose the winners of the competition, who will be announced in spring 2019.

Quotes

"The Smart Cities Challenge will support innovation and drive real outcomes for residents across the country. The skilled and diverse jury announced today will help us find the best ideas Canada has to offer so that we can build more inclusive and accessible communities where our residents are informed, secure and healthy.

- The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

Quick facts

The callout for jury applications was launched in November 2017 with the launch of the Smart Cities Challenge. The callout was posted on the Infrastructure Canada website.

The jury is made up of a chairperson and 12 leaders who are recognized in their respective fields.

The jury will also select the winners of the Challenge, who will be announced in spring 2019.

Through the Investing in Canada plan, the Government of Canada launched the first of three competitions of the Smart Cities Challenge to encourage communities across the country to develop and implement smart cities initiatives. Finalists will be announced in the coming weeks.